Strome has had an ugly start to the season offensively. Through 18 games, the former fifth-overall pick has only one goal and one assist. Spooner has also struggled in New York this season as he has two points in 16 games played. Like Strome, Spooner is a centre who can also play on the wing. So, ultimately, this looks like a change of scenery for two similar struggling, young forwards.

Spooner is somebody Peter Chiarelli is familiar with. Chiarelli drafted Spooner in the second round of the 2010 draft when he was with the Boston Bruins. Spooner would end up cracking the Bruins as a full-time player in 2015-16, putting up 13 goals and 49 points in 80 games. For his career, Spooner has played 289 NHL games with 46 goals and 160 points.

Last year, Spooner was one of the players involved in the trade that sent Rick Nash from the Rangers to Bruins for Boston’s playoff run last year. Despite his struggled so far this year, Spooner actually hit the ground running with the Rangers last year. In 20 games after the deadline deal, Spooner put up four goals and 16 points, which, hilariously enough, was better than what Nash did in Boston.

The Rangers will eat $900k of Spooner’s contract, so he’ll have a cap hit of $3.1 million this year and next for the Oilers. That’s the exact same cap hit Strome had here on the two-year deal he inked back in the summer. The one difference is that Spooner will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of his deal while Strome was still under team control.

Strome was an experiment that didn’t work out for the Oilers. He was acquired in a one-for-one year involving Jordan Eberle back in 2016 as the Oilers wanted a younger, cheaper, and more versatile forward. Unfortunately, Strome never managed to find his offensive game in Edmonton. He played 100 games for the Oilers and managed just 14 goals and 26 points. Hopefully, things work out better for Spooner.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.Wake me up when Pete makes a real trade. Garbage for garbage ! Making it look like Petes in the game.My dog could have made this trade.

You make a very good point. The Oilers actually might have the guy they need (for 3rd line C) in Marody…and neither mgmt nor Marody will have to take any heat if Marody doesn’t produce in that spot. He will just be “filling a vacancy.”

Holy man, people need to let the Eberle trade go already…. were you expecting a Strome for Crosby then? Eberle didn’t bring a cup to NYI either…. this was a trade where two teams swapped struggling forwards in hopes to get them going on new teams

I don’t get it. Reading what everyone is saying, Spooner is a faster player than Strome? Well if everything else is a wash on the two of them, why did the Rangers give up the faster player, given the league is getting faster? I think I’m leaning to the Chiarelli conspiracy theory ….

If the guy can skate and go into the dirty areas and get the puck and put one in the net once in a while that will be a huge upside over Strome. Strome Achilles heal is his foot speed, he is freaking sloooow. It’s always been an issue for him

The fact that Strome didn’t like going into the corners and the dirty areas is an issue, you can not play away from thos areas, when your teams mates are doing it and the play is dying because you wont go there, that is a problem.

Spooner may not be McDavid, but I think his foot speed will help greatly with the line he is on and the guy isnt afraid to get hit or goafter the puck